Early intervention could prevent schizophrenia before it starts

Washington, Jan 29 (ANI): In a new study, researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have shown that early intervention could prevent Schizophrenia even before it starts.

Prof. Ina Weiner of TAU's Department of Psychology, the developmental disorder, which usually manifests in early adulthood, can be triggered in the womb by an infection.

But unlike developmental disorders such as autism, it takes many years for the symptoms of schizophrenia to develop.

"Pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia remain unsatisfactory, so clinicians and researchers like myself have started to dig in another direction. The big question asked in recent years is if schizophrenia can be prevented," said Weiner.

In the study, the researchers sought to discover biological cues that would help trace the progression of the disease before symptoms manifested.

"If progressive brain changes occur as schizophrenia is emerging, it is possible that these changes could be prevented by early intervention. That would revolutionize the treatment of the disorder," she said.

"We wondered if we could use neuro-imaging to track any early-onset changes in the brains of laboratory animals," Prof. Weiner says. "If so, could these changes and their accompanying schizophrenia-like symptoms be prevented if caught early enough?" she added.

The researchers gave pregnant rats a viral mimic known to induce a schizophrenia-like behavioral disorder in the offspring.

The method simulates maternal infection in pregnancy, a well known risk factor for schizophrenia.

Weiner demonstrated that the rat offspring were normal at birth and during adolescence.

But in early adulthood, the animals, like their human counterparts, began to show schizophrenia-like symptoms.

Looking at brain scans and behaviour, Weiner found abnormally developing lateral ventricles and the hippocampus in those rats with "schizophrenia."

Those that were at high risk for the condition could be given drugs to treat their brains, she determined.

After treatment with risperidone and clozapine, two commonly used drugs to treat schizophrenia, brain scans showed that the lateral ventricles and the hippocampus retained a healthy size.

"Clinicians have suspected that these drugs can be used to prevent the onset of schizophrenia, but this is the first demonstration that such a treatment can arrest the development of brain deterioration," says Weiner.

She said that the drugs work best when delivered during the rats' "adolescent" period, several months before they reached full maturity.

Now, anti-psychotics are prescribed only when symptoms are present.

Weiner believes that an effective non-invasive prediction method (looking at the developmental trajectory of specific changes in the brain), coupled with a low dose drug taken during adolescence, could stave off schizophrenia in those most at risk.

More research is needed to see at what point changes in the brain can be detected, work that Weiner has already begun.

The study was recently reported in Biological Psychiatry. (ANI)